Congressman Danny Davis

Danny Davis is a sitting United States Congressman who has served the 7th Congressional District of Illinois since 1997. He was born and raised in Parkdale, Arkansas, where he grew a passion for politics and grassroots movements. He was influenced by the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. at a young age. Those philosophies guided him through his college years at Arkansas A.M.&N. College (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff) and then on to graduate school at Chicago State University.

Representative Davis’ earliest political experience came from his time volunteering in the civil rights movement, including work with Operation PUSH and voter-registration and community-organizing efforts on Chicago’s West Side.

In Congress, Representative Davis has served on the Committee on Ways and Means, the Committee on Government Reform (now Oversight and Accountability), and the Committee on House Administration. He also was one of the first members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus elected to Congress.

I met Congressman Davis in July of 2016 outside of the United States Capitol Building at a mass protest. The crowd was in the streets protesting the police killing of Philando Castile and calling on Congress to act. Few members of Congress addressed the crowd, but only one interacted with the protestors and walked among them. That was Danny Davis. I talked with the congressman for about ten minutes as we walked down Constitution Ave in Washington, DC.